My family and friends give me grief for watching public television because they think I’m just watching book reviews and documentaries. In fact I’m also downloading blues classics like Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan together on “In Session” or B.B. King and Eric Clapton on “Riding With The King.” Of course the list of white artists whose music and careers has been built on the work of black musicians like Muddy Waters Buddy Guy Bessie Smith Koko Taylor Willie Dixon Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker is long. Most of those men and women played the Southern “chitlin circuit” for years with little or no recognition by the mainstream. Except for small audiences of devoted fans it was only when they were discovered by white American and British groups like John Mayall Eric Clapton the Beatles Rolling Stones and others that people outside the circuit took notice. After that many of their careers exploded and they rode the wave the mainstream created.

The Justice Conference (www.thejusticeconference.com) in Portland Oregon concluded yesterday with a riveting talk by Francis Chan to over 4 000 mostly white and relatively young people who had come to explore ways in which they can be part of bringing justice peace mercy love and hope to others. Begun two years ago at a small college in Bend Oregon (Kilns College) there were 1 000 attending. In two years they had quadrupled. Along with the attendees there were dozens of sponsors from major parachurch organizations colleges and publishers. Scores of exhibitors were there to tell their story. Some say it may be this generation’s version of Woodstock or the National Prayer Breakfast.

Also present and honored was Dr. John Perkins the elder statesman of the justice movement in America. In 1960 Drs. John and Vera Mae Perkins began Mendenhall Ministries to help the poor in rural Mississippi. In 1972 they moved to nearby Jackson Mississippi to focus on the needs of inner-city families. In 1982 they moved to Pasadena California and established the Harambee Christian Family Center serving a 12-block area of predominantly African-American and Latino families. In 1989 John called together a group of national leaders working in urban areas. That meeting led to the formation of the Christian Community Development Association.

For years the CCDA struggled to grow and thrive. It had dedicated leadership and the early pioneers in urban ministry and racial reconciliation worked hard to show the evangelical church the importance of justice mercy peace and love. Practitioners like Wayne Gordon Bob Lupton Glen Kehrein Mary Nelson and Barbara Williams-Skinner were famous in the small community of evangelical urban ministries and relatively unknown in the broader evangelical world. They worked without support from major donors or sponsors. You might say they played the “chitlin circuit” of the evangelical world. Yet they never stopped pressing for a wholistic Gospel and now they are on the verge of being “discovered” by a new generation – the Justice Generation.

So I am looking forward to a series of programs that do not just honor the roots of the current movement but bring the founders along on the ride. Let’s see sessions with Bob Lupton and Francis Chan or Gary Haugen paired with Mary Nelson. It’s a new day for justice ministries and time to recognize and praise those on whose shoulders they are standing. If the most recent Justice Conference is any indicator the best days of CCDA are ahead of them.